Page 201 - DENG401_Advance Communication Skills

Advanced Communication Skills

Notes Conditional sentences are not the conditional tense (would + to-less infinitive). Conditional
sentences are made up of two clauses, one with a conjunction, often if. E.g.: If you like it, you can
keep it. These two clauses can be reversed: You can keep it if you like it. Notice the use of the comma.
The Conditional tense is formed with “would” + bare infinitive.

Notes Remember: hubiera o hubiese = had; habría = would have.

Type 0: cause and effect

If + present present
These sentences are statements of universal truth or general validity. If corresponds closely in
meaning to when(ever).
What happens when you don’t water plants?; If you don’t water plants, they die
Generally speaking, when it is raining, people get blue

Statements like this commonly appear in factual discussions or explanatory (scientific and
technical) texts. There can be a variation past/past. In the Middle Ages, when it was raining
people got blue. In both cases, present-present, past-past, notice the tenses in both clauses are the
same.

Type 1: open conditions

If + present will; will + another modal; or Imperative
Open conditions are conditions that may or may not be fulfilled. We make them when the action
or event mentioned in the conditional clause is being considered, is under discussion or appears
likely to happen:

If you lose it, I’ll kill you!; If you lose it, I’ll have to kill you; If you lose it, commit suicide!

Type 2: tentative, hypothetical and unreal conditions

If + past would-modal (present or future time reference)
The conditional clause here represents what is:

Degrees of decreasing probability Examples
Possible: Suppositional or tentative but possible If we caught the next train, we’d get there on time.
Compare this (more suppositional) with this: If we
catch the next train, we’ll get there on time. Type 2
is sometimes used to be more polite, really, less
pushy!
Hypothetical/imaginary but not impossible If I won the lottery, I’d quit my job.
(day-dreaming)
Contrary to present fact, unreal situation If I knew how it worked [I actually don’t know!],
conveyed by the use of the past in the cond. cl. I’d tell you how to use it.
The verb in the conditional clause represents the attitude of thee speaker towards the conditions,
not time (which is indicated by other elements in the situation, if any).
I wish / If only / I'd rather / It's (about/high) time

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